No rush to review child death cases

Fears that social services departments would be flooded with
requests to review civil cases involving children who had been
taken into care as a result of expert medical advice, have proved
unfounded, early indications reveal.

A straw poll by Community Care of 15 councils around
England has found that none have been contacted by a family
regarding a review of their case, following the announcement a
fortnight ago of a review of 258 criminal cases.

The review was prompted by the acquittal of two women convicted of
killing their babies, freed after doubts emerged about evidence
from professor Sir Roy Meadow.

Original plans to extend the review to include thousands of cases
in the family courts caused widespread panic that councils would be
deluged with calls from parents wanting their case to be
reexamined.

The move was swiftly dropped – although could yet be revived by the
Department for Education and Skills.

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